A brief glimpse of Thanksgiving: Halftime show gets a much-needed shakeup

The time-honored tradition of Lions' Thanksgiving football: Making this sort of attire acceptable since the early 1900's

In that time, the Lions have put together a mediocre 6-8 record, including a current, rather shameful 5-game losing streak in which the boys from Detroit have lost by an average of 23 points per game.

Granted, we’re still about 3 weeks away from turkey day and while I’ll have much, much more about this wondrous Detroit tradition as the date approaches, some Thanksgiving-related news caught my eye yesterday and I felt compelled to address it.

Now, I don’t really fancy myself a connoisseur of Motown music (although, if you haven’t grooved and such with a little Marvin Gaye or the Temptations from time to time, you should give it a try), but this whole 50th anniversary business seems to have finally given the Lions’ organization a reason to abandon the truly abysmal lineup of acts that they’ve paraded out the past few years.

By no means am I naive enough to think that the halftime show isn’t geared toward the audience tuning in worldwide, not the thousands in attendance in downtown Detroit. But, truth be told, there comes a point when the acts just become a little too ludicrous for a football game.

As such, it’s been disappointing, somewhat laughable, and downright mind boggling that, over the past few years, acts like Vanessa Carlton (piano and all) and Jessica Simpson have taken the reigns of the halftime show either live from the stadium (Carlton) or via Jumbotron (Simpson).

If there was anything worse than seeing lightning-quick Chris Johnson dancing around, over, and through the Lions’ unspeakably porous defense, it was watching McCartney perform to general disinterest throughout the stands.

The halftime show is a time-honored tradition. Acts can vary and no two acts are alike. Every crowd is going to react in a unique way to the act and sometimes, that’s the most fun part.

I applaud the Lions’ organization two times:

First, for embracing the anniversary of Motown Records (a no-brainer).

Secondly, for at least one year, shying away from the tired pop acts that have been so overtly un-Detroit and a particularly disjointed transition from the first and second halves of the primary reason people across the globe tune in: to watch football.

So here’s to Kem. And Shontelle. And the other Motown acts that are scheduled to grace the Ford Field turf on Thursday Nov. 26.

hahaha, really funny post! i like how your tone is sarcastic but still journalistic. also, i like that you include stories like this so that your blog has variety and appeals to a wider audience (aka, people like me who know nothing about sports).